20th January 2009

Christmas already seems so far behind us, but may I say how lovely it was to see so many parents and friends in church on the last day of term. A very Happy New Year to you all. My apologies for the delay in sending the spring term news letter, but I have been waiting for confirmation of some elements of the time table.

Staffing:
I am sorry to say that Mrs Collinson is not yet well enough to return to school and I am sure you will all join me and the rest of the staff in wishing her a speedy recovery.
The next meeting I am scheduled to have with her is towards the end of February and I will of course keep you informed. I am confident that the current staffing arrangements can be maintained for as long as necessary. I assure you that the Governors and I are committed to insuring that your children have a happy and fulfilling experience at school and that there is no disruption to their curriculum timetable or their learning opportunities. See separate sheet regarding parent consultations.

Additional opportunities:
I have arranged for several additional curriculum opportunities to take place over the term
A professional football coach is leading a PE session in class 2 teaching ball skills.
In class 3 we have a gymnastics teacher leading a PE session and a music teacher from Bedfordshire Music leading singing sessions.
We are also going to participate in a tag rugby tournament and a gymnastics festival during this term. I do hope that parents will be willing to transport their children or arrange lifts with friends should it be required.
Later in the term Linda Marshall, from the Wild Life Trust will be leading an assembly and then returning to school to work with each class in the school’s outdoor environment.
We are shortly to receive our funding for ‘Let’s get cooking’ and when that arrives we will be starting regular cookery sessions.
Bikeability Cycle training, more details later!

School funds:
Thank you for supporting ‘Bags to School’ again last term. We raised £138.60 for school funds.
We are going to run the collection regularly twice a year, just after the February half term and again after the November half term. This is a good chance for you to get rid of your unwanted items and for the school to earn some money.
We have a range of second hand school uniform which is in good condition. I will put it out on parent’s consultation evening, but please ask Mrs. Dimery or myself if you want to see if there is anything in your child’s size. We ask for a small donation to go towards school fund and we are always pleased to take any grown out of items off your hands.
 

Date	Activity / event
Wed 21st Jan	Year 4 PGL. residential trip parent’s meeting Swallowfield school 7pm
Mon 26th Jan	Chinese tuck shop (to celebrate Chinese new year 50p as usual.)
Tues 27th Jan	Tatty Bumpkins yoga for children Class 1
Tues 27th Jan	PTA AGM 3:30 Please come along to support the hard working PTA
Tues 3rd Feb	Gymnastic festival (a group from Class 3)
WB 9th Feb	Bags to school to be distributed.
Thurs 12th Feb	Parent consultation Morning/Eve. Please return form as soon as possible to ensure we can allocate preferred times.
16th – 29th Feb	Half term
Thurs 26th Feb	Tag rugby tournament.
Swimming resumes after half term on Friday afternoons (5 weeks this term) 27th February, 6th, 13th, 20th, and the 27th March. The school will again fund the teaching element of our swimming sessions, but request a contribution to the cost of transport.
Wed 4th March	Bags to school to be collected.
Thurs 5th March	World book day - Dressing up as a book character a chance to start thinking about your costume early!
Mon 23rd March	By popular demand, a parent curriculum information evening ICT and all that technical stuff! Come and have a play on the interactive white board. 7pm until approximately 8:30
Thurs 26th March	New parents open morning class 1
Wed 1st April	Year 4 residential trip to Caythorpe Court
Fri 3rd April	Last day of term
Tues 21st April	Children return to school for the summer term.

Payments:
Please contact me if there are any difficulties with payments as we can often come up with a solution to the problem. I must stress that as the viability of school trips relies on parent contribution I need to know about difficulties sooner rather than later.

Health and Safety:
A member of staff is on playground duty from 8:45 in the morning to welcome the children to school. We are happy for you to tell us you are leaving your child / children in our safe keeping and we will ensure that they are looked after until the bell goes at 9am. Teachers, support staff and I have meetings and preparations to complete ready for the start of each school day, and are therefore, not available to supervise unaccompanied children.
If you do need to deliver your child / children to school before 8:45 we invite you to make use of Early Birds Club (bookings and payments can be made through the office, but in an emergency Mrs Bird will be happy to look after your child / children and you can arrange payment later.)

Parent’s curriculum information evening:
As you know we provide curriculum information evenings from time to time. In the past we have delivered presentations on; Internet safety, maths and calculation, spelling, sounds-write, reading, drugs and sex education. This term we are planning an evening explaining the use of ICT in school. We would be happy to cover any particular aspect you may feel would be useful so do let me know in advance of the evening so that we can plan the format of the presentation.

Extended services:
I am pleased that some of you made use of the Drop in Centre that we hosted at school recently I have asked for some new information leaflets about this self referral service to be sent to the school and I will distribute them to you as soon as I receive them. You will find other information on services you can access free which are organised through our learning community (LC2) on the parent’s notice board inside the side entrance, or look on the LC2 web-site at www.lc2.org.uk and follow the link to extended services.

Lynda Clark
Headteacher